On Marriage and Maternity Leave
by Denaliyasha
Summary: Sam talks to one of the alternate Carters about who she married, and gets some interesting advice. SJ


Disclaimer: Not mine.

A/N: Because they carefully avoided saying anything about who she was actually attached to... I couldn't resist.

**On Marriage and Maternity Leave**

"So, Samantha." Sam perched on a chair. "While we're keeping you here, might as well chat, huh?"

Her other self shrugged. Sam had moved them both to another locked room. She'd wanted to be able to pick her double's brain about life in her universe.

"So, in this universe," and Sam gestured around her, "I came back to SG-1 after a while on the Prometheus. Daniel said it was something else in your universe?"

"Yeah." A very familiar smirk appeared on Samantha's face. "My honeymoon."

"Your WHAT?"

"My honeymoon." Samantha grinned. "It was wonderful. And I was talking to Janet, from one of the other teams? She was saying in her universe, you... I... we were off on maternity leave."

Sam fiddled with her hands. "Umm... would it be too weird to ask who you married?"

There was an amused look on Samantha's face. "Oh, for crying out loud. Who are you dating in this reality?"

"Nobody."

That got a surprised reaction. "Seriously? When Jack retired, you didn't show up at his house and jump him? That's what I did... and we got married a week later."

Sam choked. "Are you kidding?"

"No. Why would I? I've been in love with him since... well, I can't remember. You ARE still in love with Jack in this reality, right?"

Sam sighed. "Of course."

"How long, if you don't mind my asking?"

Sam looked sheepish. "Since I challenged him to arm wrestle."

"And does he love you back?"

"Yes."

Samantha leaned forward. "When did you realize that?"

"When his only objection to our other selves being engaged was that it was against regulations."

Samantha sat back with a smug look. "Look, if he's anything like my husband, he's a bit on the oblivious side. You just need to make sure he realizes that no matter what happened in the past, you still love him and aren't going to let a little thing like his free will get in the way."

Sam laughed. "That sounds like General O'Neill."

"You know, if you're going to jump him, you might want to practice calling him by his first name."

"You might have a point."

* * *

"Hey, Carter. Heard there were about twenty of you running around."

Sam spun on her seat. "Sir!"

"No need to get up, Carter." He perched on the corner of one of her lab benches. "So, lots of yous in a room, huh?"

"Yes, Sir. As well as Janet and Martouf." She smiled sadly. "Janet and her Daniel were together, you know. It was hard for our Daniel to watch."

"I'd imagine." Jack fiddled with a wrench of some sort that she'd left lying out. "Say, Carter... Did you ask any of the other yous about their lives?"

"Yes." When he gestured for her to go on, she averted her gaze. "Martouf said that his Sam was 'no longer his', but never got around to telling me who she was with. He was from Janet's reality, and Janet said the reason I wasn't on that team was because I was on maternity leave."

"Really?" His eyebrows went up. "Wow."

"Another of my counterparts came back to SG-1 after her honeymoon, not a stint on the _Prometheus_. I didn't get much of a chance to talk to the other ones." She frowned suddenly. "Sir, what are you doing here?"

"Umm... I'm not sure. Wanted to see how you all were handling the dozen other yous."

"That's nice of you, Sir..." She was visibly steeling herself for something, but he couldn't tell what.

"Jack..."

"Huh?" Her use of his first name caught him by surprise. "Did you..." His words were cut off by her lips on his. He wrapped his arms around her waist out of instinct and long suppressed feelings, and her hands found their way to his short hair. He deepened the kiss, and both were breathless by the time they stepped apart.

She managed words, though. "You're going to marry me, Jack, and we're going to live a weird life because we can't have a normal one. But it's going to be happy, damn it, because I love you."

"I love you too. But, what was that about?" He was gaping, unable to regulate his breathing.

"Just some advice from a friend."


End file.
